Production of Sialic Acid and Its Derivatives by Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli

Sialic acid and its derivatives have attracted considerable interest due to their important biological functions, and are valuable resources with increasing demand in many fields. Significant efforts have been made for the efficient production of sialic acids. In this chapter, we review the achievements that have been obtained in the development of microbial processes for the production of sialic acids and its derivatives with an emphasis on the strategies of metabolic engineering for the enhanced production of N-acetylneuraminic acid, polysialic acid, and sialylated oligosaccharides, such as 3′ sialyllactose.